... for my yarn stash that is. My order from The Sweet Sheep arrived today. Inside were three skeins of beautiful red yarn made up of 70% merino wool and 30% possum fibre. Possum!

 
It’s Possum Worsted by Cherry Tree Hill. Each skein is 50 grams and 109 yards and knits up at 4.5 stitches to the inch on size 8 (5.00 mm) needles. It is so lovely and squashy and soft.  The red is nice and rich and the yarn has just a little bit of a halo to it - from the possum I guess. I don’t know exactly what it will be yet but whatever it is will be wonderful. How could it not be ... it’s made with possum yarn!
 
I also got this yummy confection, also from Cherry Tree Hill. It’s 450 yards of merino sock yarn though the skein is twisted so tightly you’d never guess it.

It will make some bright socks to warm my toes this winter.
 

 
In other news I have sewn one of the shoulder seams for Rob’s sweater and started the collar. It took me three tries to be satisfied with my seaming efforts - things seem to show more with this bulky yarn - but it looks pretty good now. I’m seven rows into the collar. The weight of the sweater makes it slower going than I’d thought but if I work on it a little bit every night it will still be finished by the weekend. I’m going to be blocking the sleeves tonight so they will be ready for seaming when the collar is finished.

After learning to make scrumbles last week I had a renewed interest in crochet. I’ve learned a little bit here and there in the past but I find I get a little bored and forgetful after a few rows and generally prefer knitted fabric. Recently, however, I’ve been seeing more crochet project that appeal to me, they tend to be things worked in the round: there is the Babette Blanket project on the Purl Bee, and the hexagons on Moonstitches. The problem was that these designs came from books or magazines and I had been unable to find patterns I liked on the internet.
 
Then I found the Hundred Flowers Scarf. Those cheerful multi-coloured flowers just called out to me and I was very excited to discover that the designer had posted instructions for making them. I showed the pattern to Jane and she offered to give me a bit of help working through it. Last night I went over to her house for a visit and when I returned home I had this pretty little flower with me.
 
I also have with me a crochet book on loan with patterns for a very pretty pink shrug and a cozy blanket. I love to learn a new craft.

Actually, it’s alpaca fibre from Alberta. This is another bunch of birthday fibre. I started spinning it up at a spinning demonstration I attended a few weeks ago. It feels wonderful to spin. It’s so soft and the individual fibres move apart very easily. The staple is long too so I don’t find my strip of roving breaking apart very often.
 
I’m spinning this very thin in the hopes of plying back on itself and getting enough yarn at the right weight to make the Wine and Roses Mitts from Interweave Knits Winter 2006 issue. I think they are so pretty and girly but the alpaca will make them reasonably warm too - just right for fall and spring or in my chilly office.